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Hard Numbers: Truck backup at Polish border, Maldives says bye to India’s troops, Australia clinches Cricket World Cup, Swift postpones Rio show amid deadly heat

November 19, 2023
Tasha Kheiriddin
Polish truckers block several border crossings with Ukraine in protest at what they say is Ukrainian haulers' free rein in Poland that is hurting their business.
Polish truckers block several border crossings with Ukraine in protest at what they say is Ukrainian haulers' free rein in Poland that is hurting their business.
Attila Husejnow/SOPA Images/Sipa USA via Reuters

3,000: For the past 11 days, Polish truckers have blocked roads leading to three border crossings with Ukraine, protesting what they call “government inaction” over a loss of business to foreign competitors since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Traffic is now backed up 30 kilometers on one of the routes, with an estimated 3,000 trucks waiting to cross.

75: The recently elected president of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, formally asked India to withdraw its 75-person military contingent from the country. Muizzu won the presidential election in September on an “India Out platform” and is seen as more closely aligned with China.

6: On Sunday, Australia won a record-extending sixth Cricket World Cup against India with a six-wicket victory at Narendra Modi Stadium. Despite starting the tournament sidelined by a broken left hand, Australian player Travis Head scored 137 runs and was named man of the match, becoming only the seventh player to score a century in a men's World Cup final.

140: On Saturday, megastar Taylor Swift postponed her second concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after a 23-year-old woman died at her Friday show, apparently due to the sweltering combination of temperature and humidity, which felt like 140 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest index Rio has ever recorded. In a handwritten note shared on her social media, Swift said she had a “shattered heart.” “There's very little information I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young,” she wrote.

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